TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — There’s a big push in Tucson to bring new development to long standing midtown neighborhoods but some of those neighborhoods are looking to build assurances to make sure new development won’t destroy what they love about where they live.
Tucson is trying to encourage infill development where new construction blends into old neighborhoods. That way the city has less urban sprawl that makes it harder to deliver city services like utilities and police and fire protection.
But neighborhood activist Ronni Kotwica worried zoning to encourage infill could make neighborhoods a jumble of tiny houses and apartments so tall they make it harder to live in the homes people have now.
“The variances have been lessened, and houses can build five feet from your property line now. And would you want to have a home or a dorm, or whatever built the house next door where they can look right into your backyard?”
Now the city has approved a plan for the seven neighborhoods in the Grant-Alvernon area to guide development there.
Kristine Yarter says she got involved because she wants to avoid a rerun of how an earlier wave of infill changed the character of her neighborhood back in the 1970s.
“Infill just came and took everything away from our neighborhood that was represented by old Adobe houses and homeowners, and now it's 74% rental, and it just was haphazardly done.”
Part of the current plan looks to encourage developers to be good neighbors and communicate with residents towards new development that will fit in with the area.
Ronni Kotwica says, “Everything that's in there is available online. And when developers come into our neighborhoods, any of the neighborhoods, then they have the ability to look at that plan and see if what they're doing really fits into what our expectations are.”
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
